Unitary therapeutic aerosol dispenser

Abstract

A combination aerosol container carrier and deceleration chamber carries an aerosol container interiorly of the deceleration chamber and by pulling out and, pivoting the aerosol container in its case, is changed to a dispensing configuration in such a manner that essential parts are not apt to be dropped and incorrect assembly is avoided even when the user is under stress or adverse environmental conditions. The dispenser provides for unitary doses of inhalable medicament, with uniform doses and very convenient administration.

I claim: 
     
       1. An aerosol dispenser for dispensing uniform dosages of a finely-divided medicament suspended in a propellant at a low velocity in inhalable dry aerosol form in the particle size range of 0.5 to 10 microns, comprising: a circular cylindrical container carrier and deceleration chamber consisting essentially of a cylindrical barrel, and at one end thereof an end wall, and a mouth piece in said end wall adapted to fit into a human mouth coaxil with the cylindrical barrel;   a mouthpiece cap, adapted to removably engage and close the mouthpiece in dust including relationship;   and adjacent the other end of the barrel, formed in the wall of the barrel, at least one piston stop, and attached to and extending beyond the barrel, a short barrel extension, coaxial with and slightly greater in diameter than the barrel;   a piston slightly smaller than said barrel, mounted interiorly of said barrel, and slideable therein, having a piston skirt of sufficient length to prevent the piston from cocking in the barrel, friction rails integral with and elevated above the surface of the piston skirt to slide in contact with and reduce friction with the barrel said piston having at least one indexing groove therein to cooperate with said piston stop, to permit the piston to be inserted in a groove oriented relationship only and when the piston is rotated, to retain the piston within the barrel; a piston head on said piston, and axially in said head a telescoping sleeve passing through the piston, two sleeve arms, extending rearward from the piston head, a headed retention stud on each arm, pointing inwardly towards each other, and said sleeve having a vane aligning slot therein between said arms;   a container case, the front end of which slideably telescoping fits in said telescoping sleeve, and the front part of which case has therein two opposed stud channels, the main portions of which are adapted to slideably hold the retention studs, and the rear end of which channels are enlarged to pass the heads on the studs so that the heads may be inserted or removed only when the studs are at the rear end of travel in said channels; an enlarged diameter of the container case intermediate of the length of the container case which limits the forward engagement of the case into the sleeve, a case at the rear end of the case, a case flange on the case base, cylindrical in shape and of such size as to fit into and be held by the barrel extension in a closed position; two finger ports in the case base and case flange, whereby an aerosol container inserted into the case may be grasped between the finger and thumb and removed from the case; at the front end of the case, a spary nozzle having a spray orifice therein, which sprays at right angles to the axis of the case, and connected to said nozzle, an actuating tube bore to receive the actuating tube of a valve on an aerosol container, whereby when an aerosol valve on the container engages and is operated by the actuating tube bore, a metered dose of medicament is dispensed through thus spray nozzle;   a case rest on the side of the case, which locks against the sleeve when the case is bent to dispensing position to hold the maximum bending between case and sleeve to 90°, a case head at the front end of the case, having a raised finger rest which both provides a rest for the operator's finger when actuating by pressing a container into the case, and extends upward to prevent the bending of the case backwards with respect to the sleeve, and a spray direction vane on the case head, which indicates the direction of the spray nozzle, and locks into the vane aligning slot in the sleeve to give lateral stability to the assembly during use.